Mounting system for pressure transmitters

ABSTRACT

A mounting plate is disclosed that is adapted to be positioned between a main flow line and at least two differential pressure transmitters, to place the two differential pressure transmitters in fluid communication with a pair of pipeline taps on opposite sides of a flow reducing orifice plate in the main flow line is disclose. The mounting plate includes a plate-like body generally rectangular in cross section along its longitudinal axis and longer than it is wide along its transverse axis. The plate-like body includes a pair of ports that extend through the body and are in fluid communication with the pair of pressure taps with the longitudinal axis of the body parallel to the main flow line. A plurality of passageways or bores extend into the body to connect the ports to various combinations of pressure transmitters. One or more mounting holes for the transmitters are on a line that intersects the longitudinal axis of the body at an angle to allow some of the passageways or bores to be drilled straight and parallel to the longitudinal axis of the body between the mounting holes. 
     In another embodiment, a sub plate is used to supply pressure to a third pressure transmitter. In another embodiment, a plate-like adapter, as well as the sub plate, is used to mount four differential transmitters or three differential pressure transmitters and a static pressure transmitter.

This invention relates generally to mounting systems for fluid pressuretransmitters that transmit the static pressure that is upstream ordownstream of an orifice meter run and the differential pressure acrossthe orifice meter run to a central station where the volume of gasflowing through the pipeline is calculated. In particular, thisinvention relates to a common mounting means for the pressuretransmitters.

In U.S. Pat. No. Re. 34,610, which will issue May 17, 1994 and beentitled "Mounting Means for Fluid Pressure Transmitters", a commonmounting means for a differential pressure transmitter and a gaugepressure transmitter is disclosed. It consists of a plate-like mountingadapter having two parallel ports located along a line transverse thelongitudinal axis of the adapter and extending through it from one sideto the other. The adapter is mounted on a manifold through which thepressure upstream of the orifice meter run and the pressure downstreamof the orifice meter run is transmitted through the ports in the adapterto a differential pressure transmitter mounted on the adapter. Apassageway in the adapter extending parallel to the longitudinal axis ofthe adapter connects one of the two ports to a static pressuretransmitter also mounted on the top side of the adapter. The adapter canbe easily provided with a second longitudinal passageway so that asecond differential pressure transmitter can be mounted on the plate, ifdesired.

The location of the two openings or ports in the plate-like adapterthrough which the upstream and downstream pressures are transmitted tothe differential pressure transmitter are so located on the adapter thatthe axis of the longitudinally extending passageway connecting thestatic pressure transmitter to the ports is perpendicular to thepipeline, as would be the second longitudinally extending passagewayrequired for a differential pressure transmitter, when the adapter ismounted on a manifold that connects the ports to upstream and downstreampressure. See FIG. 2 of U.S. Pat. No. Re. 34,610. This results becausethe pressure taps on opposite sides of the orifice are in line with thelongitudinal axis of the meter run and the manifold is designed so thatthe pressures upstream and downstream of the orifice are transmitted tothe pressure transmitter along as straight a path as possible so thatpressure changes in the pipeline will be transmitted to the transmittersaccurately and quickly. As a consequence, the adapter of the '884patent, when mounted on the manifold, has its longitudinal axisperpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the meter run.

More and more people in the industry now want two or more differentialpressure transmitters for each orifice meter run. This provides backupdifferential pressure transmitters and also a check on the informationbeing received. Also, there may be as many as four parties that areinterested in measuring the volume of gas flowing through the line andeach party wants its own pressure transmitter.

As stated above, the plate-like mounting adapter of the '884 patentcould be easily modified to support and to supply two differentialpressure transmitters with upstream and downstream pressure by providinga second passageway extending parallel to the first such passageway toconnect another outlet port with whichever pressure is not supplied tofirst outlet port.

The problem, however, as stated above, is that the arrangement of theports causes the plate-like adapter to extend laterally of the pipelinefar enough to accommodate the second differential pressure transmitter,which creates a problem when multiple meter runs are locatedside-by-side.

It is also desirable to mount the two differential pressure transmittersutilizing such an adapter of minimal size to reduce the spacerequirement and overall costs associated with the transmitters.

Therefore, it is an object and feature of this invention to provide aplate-like mounting adapter for at least two differential pressuretransmitters that can be mounted on a manifold or connected directly tothe pipeline with the longitudinal axis of the adapter parallel to thelongitudinal axis of the pipeline.

A further object and advantage of this invention is to provide such aplate-like mounting adapter that can support a gauge pressuretransmitter in addition to two differential pressure transmitters withthe passageway supplying pressure to the gauge pressure transmittergenerally parallel to the pipeline.

It is another object and feature of this invention to provide such anadapter that is easily manufactured and small in size.

It is another object and feature of this invention to provide aplate-like mounting adapter for at least two differential pressuretransmitters providing a common mounting means that is rectangular inshape with two ports, through which the pressures upstream anddownstream of the orifice meter run are transmitted to the pressuretransmitters that are generally centrally located and spaced generallyalong a longitudinal axis of the adapter thereby allowing the adapter tobe positioned with its longitudinal axis parallel to the pipeline.

It is another object of the invention to provide means for mounting asecond differential pressure transmitter on such an adapter to besupplied with upstream and downstream pressure using mounting holeslocated along a line that makes an acute angle with the longitudinalaxis of the adapter thereby allowing longitudinally extending straightpassageways to supply upstream and downstream pressure to thetransmitter.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a mounting plate anda sub plate assembly that provides a common mounting means for threedifferential pressure transmitters.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a mounting platethat can be mounted on a manifold upon which three pressure transmitterscan be mounted along a line parallel to the longitudinal axis of thepipeline.

It is a further object and advantage of this invention to provide asecond plate-like adapter for mounting on the mounting adapter sub plateassembly to support one of the three differential pressure transmittersmounted on the adapter plate and a fourth pressure differential pressuretransmitter or a static pressure transmitter.

These and other advantages, features of this invention will be apparentto those skilled in the art from a consideration of this specificationincluding the attached drawings and appended claims.

IN THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a plan view of one embodiment of the platelike adapter of thisinvention for supporting two differential pressure transmitters and agauge pressure transmitter.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2--2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3--3 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is an end view of the adapter of FIG. 1 looking in the directionof arrows 4--4.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of another embodiment of the plate-like mountingadapter of this invention for supporting three differential pressuretransmitters.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line 6--6 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line 7--7 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along line 8--8 of FIG. 5.

FIG. 9 is a plan view of an alternate embodiment of the plate-likemounting adapter of this invention for supporting three differentialpressure transmitters all of which being supplied by upstream anddownstream pressure through passageways extending straight through theplate from one end to the other.

FIG. 10 is a sectional view taken along line 10--10 of FIG. 9.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of a sub plate for mounting under an adapter,such as the plate-like adapter of FIG. 5, to provide support foradditional pressure transmitters.

FIG. 12 is a sectional view taken along line 12--12 of FIG. 11.

FIG. 13 is a sectional view taken along line 13--13 of FIG. 11.

FIG. 14 is a sectional view taken along line 14--14 of FIG. 11.

FIG. 15 is an end view of the adapter of FIG. 11 looking in thedirection of arrows 15--15.

In FIGS. 1-4, rectangular plate 10 is provided with a pair of centrallylocated ports 12 and 14 that extend through the plate. All such "ports"are surrounded by circular grooves, such as grooves 12a and 14a, inwhich seal rings are placed to contain the fluid pressure in the ports.

When plate 10 is mounted on a manifold (not shown), upstream anddownstream pressure on opposite sides of an orifice meter run issupplied to the ports, substantially directly from the pipeline so thatthere is a minimum resistance to the transmission of pressure changesthrough the manifold to the ports and to the transmitters. Adifferential pressure transmitter mounted on the mounting adapter usingmounting holes 16 measures the difference between upstream anddownstream pressure across the orifice and transmits this information toa central station.

The adapter also has a straight first bore or passageway 18 extendingfrom end 10a of the plate parallel to the longitudinal axis of the plateto intersect port 12. Assuming port 12 is supplied with downstreampressure this pressure is supplied to port 20 through passageway 18. Agauge pressure transmitter mounted on the adapter using mounting holes22 transmits upstream or downstream pressure, whichever is in port 12,to the central station.

The adapter is further provided with second straight bore or passageway24 that extends from end 10b of the adapter parallel to the longitudinalaxis of the adapter. Bore 24 intersects third passageway 26 that extendstransverse the longitudinal axis of the adapter from side 10c of theadapter and intersects bore 18 as well as passageway 24. This connectsport 12 to opening 28 and allows downstream pressure to be supplied toport 28.

A fourth straight passageway 30 extends from end 10b of the adapter andconnects opening 32 with port 14 to supply upstream pressure to opening32. A second differential pressure transmitter can then be mounted onthe adapter using mounting holes 34, and it will be supplied withupstream and downstream pressure relative to the orifice plate throughopenings 28 and 32. Using this embodiment of the common mounting adapterof this invention allows two pressure differential transmitters and astatic or gauge pressure transmitter to be connected directly to thepressure taps on opposite sides of an orifice meter run or to a manifoldconnected to an orifice meter run with the longitudinal axis of theadapter parallel to the longitudinal axis of the pipeline.

FIGS. 5-8 show a mounting adapter assembly for mounting, in parallelalignment with a pipeline, three differential pressure transmitters. Theassembly includes mounting plate 56 and sub plate 40. Sub plate 40 hasthree vertical ports 42, 44, and 46. Ports 42 and 44 extend through thesub plate, but port 46 does not. Port 46 is a blind hole opening inupper surface 48 of the sub plate. Port 44 is connected to port 46 bypassageways 49 and 50 that intersect at right angles as shown in FIG. 6.Sub plate 40 is positioned on a manifold (not shown) with ports 42 and44 positioned to receive from the manifold the upstream and downstreampressure from opposite sides of an orifice plate in a pipeline.

Elongated rectangular plate-like mounting adapter 56 (mounting plate orplate) is then mounted on sub plate 40 with mounting holes 58 in axialalignment with mounting holes 52 of the sub plate. Mounting bolts (notshown) extend through aligned mounting holes 58 in the plate and 52 inthe sub plate, as shown in FIG. 8, to connect the assembly together andto the manifold (not shown). Since mounting holes 58 are offset from thecenterline of the plate, drilled and tapped hole 58a extends upwardlyfrom the bottom of the plate to receive bolt 59 extending through hole59a in the sub plate to help pull the mounting plate and sub platetogether. Upstream and downstream pressure is now supplied to ports 60and 62 of the mounting plate through ports 42 and 44 and a differentialpressure transmitter can be mounted to receive upstream/downstreampressure through ports 60 and 62 using mounting holes 58.

Plate 56 has straight bore or passageway 64 that extends from end 56aparallel to the longitudinal axis of the plate and intersects port 60.Second straight passageway 66 extends from end 56b parallel to thelongitudinal axis of the plate and intersects transverse passageway 68that intersects longitudinally extending passageway 64. Thus,passageways 64, 66, and 68 connect ports 70 and 78 with port 60,thereby, supplying ports 70 and 78, as well as port 60, with pressurefrom one side of the orifice plate.

Pressure from the other side of the orifice plate is supplied to port 44in the sub plate 40 and then to port 46 of the sub plate by passageways49 and 50. Port 46 then supplies such pressure to port 72 in plate 56and port 76 through passageway 74 that extends from end 56a parallel topassageway 64 and intersects vertical outlet port 76 and port 72. Thus,port 76 and port 78, which is supplied with upstream pressure bypassageway 64, furnish upstream and downstream pressure to a seconddifferential pressure transmitter mounted on the plate through mountingholes 80.

Passageway or bore 81 connects port 82 to downstream pressure port 62 sothat a third differential pressure transmitter can be mounted to receiveupstream pressure from port 70 and downstream pressure from port 82using mounting holes 84.

The mounting plate and the sub plate shown in FIGS. 5-8 can beintegrally connected.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 9 and 10, again the mounting plate isarranged to support three differential pressure transmitters. Upstreampressure and downstream pressure enter the plate through ports 86 and88, respectively. These ports do not go all the way through the plate,as shown in FIG. 10 with respect to port 86, but are connected bytransverse bores 89 and 90 to ports 92 and 94 that supply upstream anddownstream pressure to a pressure transmitter mounted on the plate usingmounting holes 96. Longitudinally extending passageway or bore 98extends from one end of the plate to the other and intersects verticalports 92, 102, and 104 to supply port 102 and 104 with upstreampressure. Passageway 100 extends from one end of the plate andintersects port 94, 106, and 108 to supply ports 106 and 108 withdownstream pressure. Thus, upstream and downstream pressure is suppliedto differential pressure transmitters mounted to the plate usingmounting holes 110 and 112, respectively.

FIGS. 11-15 show sub plate 120 for mounting partly under on mountingadapter 56 that is shown in FIGS. 5-8 to allow three differentialpressure transmitters plus either a fourth differential pressure or astatic pressure transmitter to be mounted on sub plate 120.

Sub plate 120 as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12 has longitudinally extendingpassageways 122 and 124 that are bored from end 120a of the adapterplate. Ports 126 and 130 are drilled at an angle into the top side ofplate 120 to intersect passageways 122 and 124 and ports 128 and 132 aredrilled from the bottom of the plate to intersect passageways 122 and124 as well as ports 126 and 130.

As shown in FIG. 13, port 140 is connected to passageway 122 and port142 is connected to passageway 124. In FIG. 14, port 144 is connected topassageway 122 by laterally extending passageway 146 that connectspassageway 122 to port 144.

When mounting adapter 56 is placed partly on adapter plate 120 and ports60, 62, and 72 of adapter 56 are in axial alignment with ports 142, 140,and 144 respectively, pressure from one side of the orifice plate issupplied to sports 132 and 130 and port 140 through passageway 122 andport 144 through passageways 122 and 146. Port 140 of adapter plate 120is connected upwards to port 62 of mounting adapter 56 and port 144 ofadapter plate 120, then is connected to port 72 of mounting adapter 56and eventually is connected to ports 76, 62, and 82 of the mountingadapter 56. Pressure from the other side of the orifice plate issupplied to ports 128 and 126 and port 142 through passageway 124. Port142 of adapter 120 is connected upwards to port 60 of mounting adapter56, from there, port 60 is connected to ports 78 and 70.

When mounting adapter 56 is placed partly on sub plate 120 and ports 60,62, and 72 of mounting adapter 56 are in axial alignment with ports 142,140, and 144 of sub plate 120 respectively, four mounting holes 148 insub plate 120 also are in axial alignment with four mounting holes 58 inthe mounting adapter 56. Four mounting bolts (not shown) extend through,aligned mounting holes 148 in the sub plate, mounting holes 58 in themounting adapter, and similarly aligned mounting holes in thedifferential pressure transmitter (not shown) and manifold (not shown),to connect the assembly together. Ports 60 and 62 of mounting adapterwill accommodate either a differential transmitter or a static pressuretransmitter. If a static pressure transmitter is used, it is mounted onanother plate (not shown) with only one communication passageway toeither port 60 or 62 and using the same mounting holes 58 and 148. If adifferential transmitter is used, it can be mounted directly on mountingplate 56 and in fluid communication with ports 60 and 62 using mountingholes 58 and 148. Mounting hole 58a on mounting plate 56 and mountinghole 150 on sub plate 120 are used as auxiliary mounting holes, a shortbolt (not shown) using these two holes to insure the sealing integrityof port 72 in mounting plate 56 and port 144 in sub plate 120.

Two additional differential pressure transmitters can be installed onmounting plate 56, (using ports 76 and 78 with mounting holes 80 andports 82 and 70 using mounting holes 84) and the fourth differentialpressure transmitters can be installed on sub plate 120 (using ports 126and 130 with mounting holes 134).

Thus, by using adapter 120 with mounting adapter 56, either threedifferential pressure transmitters and a static pressure transmitter canbe supported on one common mounting plate or four differential pressuretransmitters can be so supported.

It is a feature of this invention that pressure transmitters that arenot in direct alignment with the pressure taps coming through themounting plate are mounted on the plate so that the distance between theupstream pressure sensor of the transmitter and the pipeline and thedistance between the downstream pressure sensor of the transmitter andthe pipeline are the same if at all possible or if not, as close tobeing the same as possible.

It is another feature of this invention to mount all transmitters not indirect alignment with the pressure taps at an oblique angle to thelongitudinal axis of the plate to allow straight bores to be drilledfrom the ends of the plates that will pass between the mounting boltholes and intersect the pressure ports located between the mountingholes.

From the foregoing it will be seen that this invention is one welladapted to attain all of the ends and objects hereinabove set forth,together with other advantages which are obvious and which are inherentto the apparatus and structure.

It will be understood that certain features and subcombinations are ofutility and may be employed without reference to other features andsubcombinations. This is contemplated by and is within the scope of theclaims.

Because many possible embodiments may be made of the invention withoutdeparting from the scope thereof, it is to be understood that all matterherein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to beinterpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:
 1. A mounting plate capable of supporting threepressure transmitters for measuring and transmitting the pressure dropacross an orifice in a gas pipeline and the gauge pressure of the gas onone side of the orifice, said plate having a first centrally locatedvertical port extending through the plate for connecting one of thepressure differential transmitters to a passageway supplied withpipeline pressure from one side of the orifice plate and a secondcentrally located vertical port extending through the plate forconnecting the same differential pressure transmitter to a passagewaysupplied with pipeline pressure from the other side of the orificeplate, a first passageway extending longitudinally from one end of theplate intersecting and extending beyond the first vertical port tosupply pressure from the first vertical port to a gauge pressuretransmitter mounted on the plate in fluid communication with the firstlongitudinal passageway, a second longitudinally extending passagewayextending from the other end of the plate to a point laterally spacedfrom the end of the first longitudinal passageway, a third passagewaydrilled from one side of the plate connecting the first and secondlongitudinal passageway to supply the second longitudinal passagewaywith pressure from one side of the orifice for supplying said pressureto a second differential pressure transmitter mounted on the plate andin fluid communication with the second longitudinal passageway, and afourth longitudinal passageway extending from the same end of the plateas the second passageway and parallel to the second to connect with thesecond vertical port and supply the second differential pressuretransmitter with pressure from the other side of the orifice.